Microsoft offering free Xbox Live Gold this weekend in the UK

Microsoft is giving UK gamers another chance to take advantage of some free Xbox Live Gold this weekend. The company just recently offered the same deal to those in the US and other regions in the world, except for the UK and Europe. They had a free weekend last month, and are now getting the opportunity to go at it once again.

If you have an Xbox 360, but have never taken advantage of Xbox Live Gold, this would be a great time to check it out for yourself and see what all the fuss is about. You'll save yourself $60/year for the membership, but if you decide after this weekend that you want to hop in full time, you can actually pick up Gold memberships for as low as $35 in some cases.

Xbox Live Gold allows you to play against your friends, as well as access different services like Netflix, Spotify, MLB.TV, and a handful of other apps in the dashboard. Granted, you'll still have to pay for each service individually, but it's a small price to pay if you want to use your gaming console as a home theater solution as well.

The free weekend promotion starts at noon UK time on Friday, May 3, and ends at midnight on that Sunday night/Monday morning. Typically, Microsoft has ended their free weekends well into the day on Monday, so having the free weekend end at Midnight on Sunday night seems a little odd. Nonetheless, that should give you plenty of time to clear your calendar and get to gaming.